I think she is still sitting on her ass up in the Hollywood Hills babbling aimlessly about moving to Texas. Anyone know for sure?
What kind of projectors are you looking at installing? New or used?
Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 06-11-2006, 05:05 PM:
I might as well chime in here:
I run a 4 screen independant in the town of Cambridge, Maryland. We have a sister theatre 15 miles away in Easton, Maryland. Having worked for the big chains most of my career, it has been quite a lot to get used to. The man I work for, Paul Wenger, is the nicest theatre owner that I met in the business. Sometimes, I feel like I am working at a 'toy' theatre, like everything is in minature compared to all the other places I have been: a minature concession stand (two registers), a minature booth (4 projectors), and 1 box station. It's really weird, like going back in time. I hope someday to own my own location. We'll see if I get there soon.
Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 06-11-2006, 07:25 PM:
C'mon Brad, don't rag on Jim Bedford. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
I had the pleasure of visiting with him when I was skiing in Teluride Colorado several years ago. The Nugget is a great little operation. He keeps those old Brinkerts running like a top. ![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif)
Jim, I'm sure whatever you do, you will still have a quality operation. Have fun! That's what it's all about, anyway. Long live the memory of Chuck Jones.
As for independents, I work for one. We have thirteen screens in a heavily screened metropolitan area and we manage to more than hold our own, giving quality presentation and hands on service. It's fun to be a thorn in the side of the chains. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 06-11-2006, 07:49 PM:
I work at a single screen built in '28, 1392 seats, we're the only 2nd run in a metro area of around a million. One would think it would be easy, but its still a battle against quick roll over to video and just plain terrible product.
Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 06-11-2006, 08:58 PM:
Putting in 4 Kinotons shouldn't be necessarily more or that much more expensive than domestic machines. There is the PK-60D that competes with Simplex, Century, and Christie. The FP20s and FP30s on the used market should also compete well with domestic used offerings.
Posted by Richard Cockrum (Member # 2417) on 06-12-2006, 06:01 AM:
My wife Glenda and I run a single screen subrun 134 seat theatre in Ambridge, PA. She does the booking, ticket booth, and floor operations. I run the projection booth, concession counter, and do building maintenance. We are weekends only, with the occasional special booking during the week.
Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 06-12-2006, 10:53 AM:
Putting in anything different will cost more than reinstalling our operating Century C's and the Christie P35C's we presently have. Love to find four good SA's or have someone make us an offer we can afford on Kinotons. Of course, we do have two to three years to look and decide before the remodel is complete so we aren't in a panic.
Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 06-13-2006, 07:03 AM:
Hey all, I operate the Roxy Theater in Langdon, ND pop. 2100. The Roxy has a 200 seat main floor auditorium with an additional 83 seats in the balcony. We sub-run mainstream films: usually 3 to 4 weeks after the break with an occasional high profile film opening on the break. The Roxy was built in 1936 and was renovated in 1998 when I took over operations. We employ 7 part timers and are open Friday through Monday nights. We present film through a Century C from a Potts platter with DTS/UltraStereo/Crown/JBL sound system. You can check out the Roxy in the Film-Tech Pictures warehouse under single screen.
I hope the studios continue to print film for a long time!!!!
Steve
Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 06-13-2006, 11:44 AM:
The theatre I work for is the only theatre operated by Stone Arch Cinema Inc. We are a part of a local company that manages restaurants and business rental properties throughout Minneapolis. Bill Carter is the manager & partner in the theatre end of the business. Our owner also rents out most of the block around the theatre, a former retail mall that has become successful office space & upscale dining.
We've inherited most of our equipment from previous companies that once had leases on the theatre. Bill has provided other equipment that hasn't been outright replaced for new stuff. We have a small crew, everyone over age 18. It's usually a perfectly adequate theatre experience for everyone involved.
Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 06-26-2006, 02:24 AM:
I'm running an indy 6 screen just south of Fresno. We run it like a chain theatre though and have spent quite a bit of effort over the last couple of years branding the "corporate" name.
Posted by Donna Sylvester (Member # 726) on 07-03-2006, 02:49 PM:
Hi. Mine is a Mom operation. I first got into the business after my government retirement about nine years ago. I moved up to the mountains and bought the local single-screen theatre. It has been in continous operation since 1940, and was in pretty bad shape. I continued to show movies, mostly just on the weekends, and gradually fixed the place up. It has the prettiest hardwood floors you can imagine. Nearly everything inside is new now.
I had the opportunity to purchase my closest competitor about a year and a half ago. It, too, had been in continuous coperation since 1939--well, except for when it was closed after two fires (one that destroyed the place), and when it was closed to move the building about 50 yards when they realigned the highway. I closed that one for five months and completely renovated it, doing nearly all the work with the help of my neighbor, my son, and local volunteers.
My theatres are 17 miles apart. Both are at least 55 miles from any other movie competitor. High school sports and local activities hurt my business tremendously. For the most part, theatre #1 is open Friday through Monday, but does show many first-run movies on the break, often for full weeks. Theatre #2 is open Friday through Sunday. I divide my time between the two and employ ten to twelve part-timers. The population in town #1 is 3500, while #2 is 680. #2 often outperforms #1!! Both theatres have Century projectors, Christie platters, JBL and EV speakers, and DTS.
I am in my home office, at home, three-tenths of a mile from theatre #1. I like it when the theatres are closed on Tuesday-Thursday, so I have time to buy supplies, preview movies, ride my motorcycle, deep clean the popcorn machine, etc. I have to travel about 270 miles one-way to attend screenings. I do my own booking.
Posted by Paul Gordon (Member # 3320) on 07-03-2006, 03:13 PM:
I work as a relief projectionist at a independent single screen change over house in Ottawa, Canada(Pop 800,000). The Mayfair has been running since 1932 playing a mix of Art and 2nd run films. Still using Century's from 1942. The theatre holds 460 people, has working curtains, a balcony, Spanish colonial style inside. Pretty old school, most days we have three staff, a Manager, who does tickets, a popcorn person and the projectionist, that's it.
Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 07-05-2006, 10:49 AM:
My family owns a 450 seat single screen theatre in Houghton Lake, MI. We also own and operate a furniture store and a sofa and mattress store on the same property. We have 1 part time employee, 5 Family members, and one business partner that work here.
Houghton Lake is a town of about 3000 people base population that explodes in the summer to many more people and dies in the winter.
Our single screen theatre is an 8000 sq. ft. log cabin and there is not a night that goes by that patrons dont say that we are the nicest theatre that they have ever been in. We do the theatre more for fun than anything as keeping this building built in 1941 in pristine condition costs a lot of money.
The previous owners did extensive restoration of the building after one owner in the late 1950's let the building go into disrepair.
We play mainstream product with 2 Simplex XL's, a TECO platter, Dolby Digital, CP55, JBL Speakers, Ashly and Altec amps.
Posted by Steve Maggs (Member # 444) on 07-28-2006, 09:03 PM:
I work for a family owned independent chain in Brisbane, Australia. They currently have 3 sites - Hawthorne 3, Balmoral 6 and Southbank 5. They are currently building a brand new 9plex in Victoria Point. Photos of the cinemas are available on their website www.cineplex.com.au
The complex competes successfully with the majors. The Southbank complex is a former joint venture with Imax and Hoyts which went broke and sat dark for a year. The Imax auditorium has been converted back to 35mm and now features Brisbane's largest screen (if not the largest in Queensland)at 82 feet wide.
Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 08-02-2006, 07:53 PM:
Hey Dan:
I manage a 248 seat theatre owned by a not-for-profit community corporation in northeastern Iowa. The house is equipped with an Apogee projector an Dolby digital surround sound. It's a very successful "dollar house'.
Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 08-04-2006, 03:31 PM:
My wife and I built and own a "first run" twin screen drive-in theatre in Watertown, Tennessee (35 miles east of Nashville). We opened the theatre in August of '03 with one screen and a parking capacity of 275 cars. Added the second screen in September of '05 with a parking capacity of around 200. We employee 17 part-timers, mostly high-school and college students.
My wife does the payroll, scheduling, food ordering, bookkeeping, film booking (thru our booker), creates all of the theatres display ads for 9 newspapers, etc. I pretty much just work there. I build and break all of the prints, run both projection booths, do all of the maintenance, mow the grass and weed-eat the fence rows, unclog the toilets, lay tile, paint walls, shovel gravel, etc.
Our "home office" is litterally in the corner of our den - just a computer and an HP Officejet All-in One. Our screened in patio at home has become the new stock room for paper products and popcorn tubs, and my garage is full of projector parts, restroom partitians, and misc. kitchen equipment. The driveway has been taken over by a new 20' long concessions trailer that only goes down to the theatre on Friday & Saturday nights.
Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 09-12-2011, 09:37 AM:
It has been 1864 days since the last post.
Posted by Melanie Loggins (Member # 6454) on 09-12-2011, 09:37 AM:
Once again, reviving an old thread.
I run a non-profit in a town of just over 5,000. Very midwest, very rural. We have a college, but most of the students leave on the weekend, so they're not a huge part of our audience. The theatre closed in 2008 and we reopened it in December and we're still working to get people back in the door.
This weekend, I ran Tree of Life. I knew it was a risk, and it turned out to be one that didn't exactly pay off. I had the lowest numbers I've had so far. BUT easily half the people who came told me this was their first visit to the theatre, and I literally had people thanking me afterward for bringing it. So maybe the PR was worth the low numbers?
So.... fellow independent theatre runners.... How do you make decisions about which movies to bring? How do you decide on showtimes? Concessions? This weekend was discouraging, and I'd like to hear from other independent managers about how it goes for you.
Posted by Cameron Andrews (Member # 5246) on 09-12-2011, 10:32 AM:
I have a 5 screen, a drive-in and a single screen all within about 15 miles of each other. The 5 screen is a discount so we do a lot of stacking so we don't run into problems very often when it comes to having to choose between two movies. But with the single screen it is a constant battle. It takes time to get to know your customers and what they like to see. We use facebook a lot to get people to vote. That can be risky too though because you might be listening to a loud minority and missing out on the silent majority. We had this problem with "Buck". We had enough requests for it that we thought it would do well. Turns out that everyone that requested it showed up..... and no one else. So it is definitely an endless battle. But the more you experiment, the more you will understand the audience. You may also discover that a part of your audience buys concessions and another part doesn't. So you may have to choose between a movie that will fill the house with a $1 per cap or a movie that will fill half the house with a $5 per cap. At the 5-plex, we find that college students can pack the house with the right movie. And then we clean up all the junk from the food they sneaked in. A good family show might not have the same attendance numbers, but concessions sales quadruple. Anyway. There is my 2 cents.
Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 09-12-2011, 10:33 AM:
Melanie, I've been running a non-profit art house since 1985. I guess the first thing I can tell you is nothing is carved in stone, including this statement.
Your first year is going to be all about learning what audience you have and what they want to come out to see (which is different from what they say they want to see).
And just because something bombs, doesn't mean it wouldn't have done well at a different time. Football has started up again, that may be having a detrimental effect on your attendance. Or not. You really have to pay attention to your numbers and be there to listen to the audience. And know what's going on at the nearest other theatres. Even if they are 50 miles away, if people are willing to drive to them, they are your competition.
Was Tree of Life your first "art" film?
There is so much hit in miss involved in the "art" biz. I'm sure others will be happy to add to the problems of being a commercial house. If you are thinking of being an art house, I'll be happy to talk with you about our experience.
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-12-2011, 11:06 AM:
There are times you have to bring in a "really good" movie that's not a mainstream hit even if you don't expect it to do a lot of business. Sometimes you'll get surprised with bigger than expected numbers.
I remember when we played "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." We had no trailer for it. I thought a subtitled foreign-language film would bomb big-time, but we did very well with it. So you just never know.
When you play an art film or a specialty film, you may not fill the seats but you will always get people to come in who don't come to the mainstream movies. Anytime you get "new bodies" in the door, that's a good thing.
Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 09-12-2011, 01:54 PM:
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